WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is welcoming the leader of South Korea to the White House in a show of unity between close allies looking to deter nuclear-armed North Korea while leaving the door open to negotiations.
The visit Friday by South Korean President Park Guen-hye (PAHK GOON HEH) follows heightened tensions this summer at the heavily militarized border between the two Koreas, and speculation that North Korea could be planning another rocket launch into space or a nuclear test explosion in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Park is the fourth Asian leader to visit the White House this year, a sign of the Obama administration’s strategic emphasis on U.S. ties with a region of growing economic importance.